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Category Archives: Andrea C

Below is an excerpt from a book that Emily, my 17 year old daughter, picked up titled: The Language of Letting Go by Melody Beattie:

Letting Go of Fear

Picture yourself swimming — floating — peacefully down a gentle stream. All you need to do is breathe, relax and go with the flow.

Suddenly you become conscious of your situation. Frightened, overwhelmed with “what if’s?” your body tenses. You begin to thrash around, frantically looking for something to grab on to.

You panic so hard you start to go under. Then you remember — you’re working too hard at this. You don’t need to panic. All you need to do is breathe, relax, and go with the flow. You won’t drown.

Panic is our greatest enemy.

We don’t need to become desperate. If overwhelming problems appear in our life, we need to stop struggling. We can tread water for a bit, until our equilibrium returns. Then we can go back to floating peacefully down the gentle stream. It is our stream. It is a safe stream. Our course has been charted. All is well.

Today, I will relax, breathe, and go with the flow.

I am having the above printed and will be mounting it on the wall by my desk – in direct line of site — just above and behind my monitor.

I have long called the craziness of modern day digital life not a battle to gain balance, but to control the flow.

I am also constantly reminding myself, clients and colleagues to breathe.

We all get so caught up in the flow, we forget that there are tools to help.

Just as floats, boats and scuba gear help swimmers control a river, DAFT and other tools are available to help service professionals control the flow of work.

Mostly, however, we forget that we are absolutely in control of how much we allow the digital to invade our lives. All. The. Time.

You can turn it all off (and not miss out on a thing).

In fact, rather than missing out on some digital tidbit of some far away “friend” on Facebook, perhaps you’ll seize that moment to sit with your daughter and ask: “Hey! What cha reading?” … and, in that ever so beautiful voice, be rewarded with the words above.

Pick a day and turn off the digital. You (and those around you) deserve it.

The flow will still be here when you’re ready to dive on back in <-I’ll even save the Swan float for ya! Oh. Unless it’s a Sunday – then you can save it for me (I’ll be back Monday morning).

Today is my birthday and it is a day that I usually have at least one good, solid cry. I do so not because I’m getting older (although the number is starting to cause pause) … I do so because my father, God rest him, passed on my birthday – now 25 years ago. No matter how much time elapses, that fact alone makes it a hard day for me to be happy, let alone jubilant.

So I try to focus on what makes me happy today and I find when I help others, I feel much better about myself and more positive in general.

I have tried my best as a Virtual Assistant to help people understand how to keep themselves and their information safe, while on line, for a very long time.

In fact, on my VBA bio page are a ton of links available to presentations, articles, reports and such that I have created over the years. No email address is necessary to review most of it.

Specifically new to that page in honor of my birthday today is a presentation I gave in 2009 for the OIVAC on Digital Security which I just did my best to cut down to under 20 minutes (but ended up leaving it at 53 minutes). That’s because it was all such good info!

A little back story: The OIVAC hosts a 3 day virtual convention each May and in 2009 mine was the LAST presentation. To say that our attendees were exhausted/overwhelmed would be an understatement! Given I am on the Steering Committee, I knew I had to make my talk relevant and easy to understand.

I pondered … how was I going to make “Digital Security” something 100’s of worldwide Virtual Assistants would be able to stay awake and digest … and it hit me — what else?! FOOD! <g>

So head over to my VBA Bio page click to play or right click to download and have a listen to Digital Security 101.

It’s been a long time since I reviewed this particular talk, and it’s FULL of practical, useful information that may just stop you from doing something that compromises your equipment or the security of the files and information entrusted to you.

If you work at a law firm, while you’re at the Virtual Bar Association – join! It’s free and that can be your bday gift to me! 😉

Below is fellow Solosezzer, large plant printed shirt wearing, lives and works in the US Virgin Islands, fellow Andy (ok I’m Ande but it’s close enough) … in the matter Hall v. Hall before the US Supreme Court.

I had the pleasure of meeting Andy at my first TechShow in Chicago wayyy back and we’ve remained connected, for the most part, through Solosez. I don’t think I know anyone who has argued before the Supreme Court before and I think it’s totally cool that I can brag that I do now AND look at how it’s presented by @SCOTUStoons

Whoo hoo and congrats to Andy for not only a great argument, but slam dunkin it at the Supreme Court with a 9-0 decision. Quite a win for not just the Supreme Court, but this particular Supreme Court AND what a win for every solo who’s ever dreamed of really making a difference in the law (while working from a far off tropical isle)!

Long time readers know of my annual trek to Chicago to attend the ABA’s TechShow and the huge amount of time and effort I would put forth each year to get as many of you as possible to attend with me on a LegalTypist SuperPass. See here, here, here, here and here

Through the years, the LT SuperPass is responsible for just around 140 attendees. I am proud to know that the LT Superpass brought the first law school educators, peeps from as far away as Europe, and several LT SuperPassers would go on to be tapped to BOD positions.

It’s been mentioned that after I spoke at the event in 2013, I stopped attending and while I would still do LT SuperPass, my heart was just not in it. Not many of you know why I kept only a virtual presence after finally reaching what was, for me, quite a personal achievement of being tapped to speak at ABA TechShow in 2013.

In a nutshell, after accomplishing what I thought would never happen and while riding the wave of my personal success and triumph over public speaking – I was shoved down a rabbit hole from which it took years to recover. I share not the details of what happened, nor the “official” follow up, as they truly do not matter. What I have finally come to realize is that I gave weak men with no honour far more credit (and power) than they deserve.

Those who know the details of my journey applaud my return in spite of past circumstances. Me? I’m sorry it took me so long. I truly missed being around all my legal geeky peeps and seeing the latest and greatest. Not to mention learning that one little thing that makes my keyboarding and use of Microsoft products that much less painful!

So here it is, my ABA TechShow 2018 Journey:

Getting There

As I had in years past, I planned a meet up for the night before, but Mother Nature had other plans and was adamant that I miss the eve of TechShow. When you have a fear of flying and the forces of nature ground ALL planes on your day of travel – you simply accept, grab the next possible flight and contact all you were hoping to meet that night to make arrangements for another time.

That’s one thing about TechShow: while you are in a constrained physical location with all those you are connected to on line – if you don’t PLAN to meet, chances are you just might not and you think on the plane home: Dang it! I never got to meet so and so (ahem @inspiredcat)

Sadly, not only did I have to cancel my own meet up, but the weather glitch meant I was unable to attend the other functions on Wednesday, including the Legal XX Symposium – where I would have had opportunity to cross paths with many of the women in legal tech. To learn more about this event, click here.

As for getting me to Chicago after the storm … fortunately, I was able to catch a noon flight out of LGA and so was in Chicago in time for dinner. The weather, while cold, it was quite sunny on Thursday.

Cab ride from Midway. #almostthere

The New To Me Venue

Chicago Hyatt Regency Lobby Lounge and Big Bar (top)

ABA TechShow 2018 returned to the Chicago Hyatt Regency “on Wacker”. This was a venue it had utilized to host the show before my time. Every TechShow I had attended until now was hosted at the Hilton, across from the Lake and Millennial Park and within easy walking distance to, well, almost everything one wishes to do, see, or taste while in Chicago. It’s hard NOT to go out when you see all going on around you at the Hilton. By comparison, the view out my window at the Hyatt looked down on highways/byways and I saw no people at all.

Along with being a far more walk about Chicago friendly location, I also preferred the Hilton for the layout of educational to exhibit – a quick run down the stairs to go ask someone something before your next meeting and that included the ABA’s Concierge or a vendor. Very easy access to your room too if you needed to drop something off or get a little work done.

Whereas at the Hyatt, just to get to the TS conference space, you had to cross the massive lobby, take 2 escalators down, travel a long hallway and around a corner. The traveling continued if you had a question for a vendor — for THAT you had to go across the Educational floor and take another, even longer escalator down (so long it had no stairs) and then through the tiny door in the wall of glass at the bottom to enter the exhibit space. (bit confused as to why the glass wall… does it rain in their sub sub sub basement?)

ANYWAY, on the other side of the glass doors was the entrance to the exhibit hall. Oddly, they had a vendor in the spot I would have used to highlight participants of the Start Up Alley, the Women of LegalTech and/or placed the LPM books <- so people have something to buy and read on the 3 escalator journey to their rooms! ;)~

Getting past the the entrance, the rest of the Exhibit Hall was really quite lovely. The flow and booth size made the space feel not at all as cramped as the entrance. About the only suggestion for improvement would be to group the techs a bit better. Otherwise, I thought the expo space was absolutely fabulous and much nicer than in year’s past.

As for your room – East Tower at the Hyatt was not so bad as it was just an additional elevator ride after crossing the massive lobby when you emerged from the conference space. However, if you were in the West Tower — keep walking! My TechShow partner in crime Ed C. was in the West Tower and we noted he walked over 3.5 miles in 1 day <-all without going outside!

Me and Edward F. Cunningham, Esq.

In fact, the only time I left the hotel was to get in an Uber with the gang to go out to dinner. Virtual waves and many thanks to the hosts of Thursday’s dinner: Nerino and Bryan (Stalker) S, along with fellow diners Andrea G, Ivan H, Alan F, and Julie T <-aka @ThinkPinkLaw

This year’s TechShow, from an educational perspective, remained solid, sprinkled with a few duds. The mixing of experts with co-presenters from sponsored companies did not appear to be a problem, although the two dud presentations I attended, needed an actual expert.

That TechShow teaches tech, not just talks about it, is the reason I recommend it to those in the practice of law. You will pick up at least one new way of doing something to make your life easier.

Who did I enjoy? Of course, any of the Affinity speakers is already so comfortable with their topic, it’s usually a very interactive and fun session to attend. I personally enjoyed Paul U’s session on Time Management and I heard numerous kudos for Barron‘s sessions as well. From the more geeky peeps, props go out to Sharon N and John S; Lincoln M, Brett B and Tom M.

From the 60 Tips, I was elated to see a slide that said Virtual Assistant by Debbie F, but disappointed in the recommendation of freelance crowdsourcing sites for those in the room to search for a VA. Oh well, there’s always next year <-a phrase I have been telling myself since the first 60 sites session I attended over a decade ago! 😉

One item I wanted to mention was the Lunch n Learn hosted by The Form Tool and presented by Bob C. First off, I was blown away by the new product he announced: Aurora. If you know The Form Tool – you understand how it takes data and fills it in the right spot. Now picture this, instead of you entering specific data – the data is collected from a webpage. So your form is hosted and the data can be provided from anywhere. *mind blown*

I really expect to see great things from Bob and this company as the concept and use of Aurora spreads!

Along with learning of pioneering technology such as Aurora, I also enjoy catching up with the new and exciting and a few of the solid players in legal technology on the exhibit hall floor. Here’s a few shots I took during one of my walkabouts:

Finally … the People

Everyone knows I go to TechShow for the people and this year was no different! I was so happy to connect in real life and for real hugs with Christy B, Alan F, Andrea G, Ed C, Mark H, Chris H and the rest of the VBA’s MeetnGeekers.

While touring the exhibit hall, it was great to see Ian from LitSoftware, Diana from CallRuby (she even brought a box of chocolates “in case” I showed up xoxo), Kim from RocketMatter, Sam G from Lawyerist, Christopher A, Nancy D. and Natalie K. along with Ivey of PerfectIt and Lecia of GetFactBox.

I also enjoyed meeting many of the VBA’s #LadiesofLegaltech — their stories are so different, yet so strangely the same. Keep an eye out for future posts highlighting these wonderful women and their determined spirits!

So, after a 5 year hiatus, my return to ABA TechShow was, as imagined, quite a trip! From reconnecting in real life with those I had done my best to be a known, liked and respected professional, to meeting up with the new and fabulous including all the #LadiesofLegaltech — definitely the PEOPLE are still the best part of TechShow!

Oh. And Ed. My shadow. We text almost every day, have met for lunch and plan to continue to do so … but he said he won’t be back for another 3 years. We’ll see about that Ed! <g>

I’ve been attending “Legaltech New York” for a very long time. See, here, here and here for glimpses of my experiences traveling into the Big Apple to walk the walk and meet up with others who talk the talk in legal tech.

Last year, the host of LegalTech NY, ALM, made some drastic changes to the event, format and some adjustments to pricing that left most long-time attendees scratching their heads.

I’m going to start with my assumption (and control yourselves all you ass you me people… I’m not privy to the inner workings of the corporate giant) – so assuming that ALM’s objectives are to:

gain the most positive exposure for the event (in order to attract next year’s attendees/ vendors/etc); and

reap the largest profit this year by having the most people be physically at the event.

Let’s face it, ALM spends a TON of money just on the venue alone and I should know. A few years back, I made inquiry to host a much, much, much smaller event at the same location and received a quote so high that it still makes one eye twitch! <g>

OK. So what did ALM change in order to advance the objectives outlined above?

Confusion No. 1 – How Many Days in a Week?

ALM told us that the event was going from a 3 day show to a week long “experience”.

What ALM did was add 3 educational “boot camps” (no Expo floor) on the Monday before the show. So, for paid attendees, stuff is happening Monday through Thursday.

That’s still only 4 days and call me Louis Black — but 4 days does not equal a week!

Leading to…

Confusion No. 2: Let’s Change the Name! Yeah…. that’s a good idea.

It really blew my mind last year when ALM changed the name of the event.

Now I get it that linking from year to year and the whole SEO of things is as totally lost on large corporations who run events as it is on most law firms. H/T VBA LiteratiMark Homer.

But, I imagined that ALM would know a wee bit about branding.

There is not a legal geek (world-wide) who did not recognize the words “Legal Tech New York” to mean THEIR event which has been bringing people to New York, in the dead of winter, for all things legal and tech for over a decade.

Branding 101 – Q1: Does your url/name conjure up an image of you/your brand/event in the mind of your target audience? A. Yes.

Then don’t mess with it!

ALM decided it was a good idea to toss out the baby with the bath water with regard to branding to the words “legal+tech+new+york” by changing the name of the event to “LegalWeek –the Experience”.

But they didn’t make it a week long event, nor did they really make it an “experience”.

Confused yet?

If I worked at ALM, I already know I’d be the only voice in the room stating the obvious negatives of changing the name above the webby stuff and confusion … like ALIENATING OUR ENTIRE BASE … but then I’d probably be the only girl too so everyone would look at me, smile and nod (like they had ANY clue about what I was saying) and then go right back to dismissing me as “being on the rag” or whatever it is they tell themselves in their heads.

Now, I read somewhere their thinking re the name change was to be able to appeal to a wider audience.

I get it. Numbers have been falling and they needed to do something. So to open up the show to a wider audience seems logical … until you think on it a bit.

As the “largest legal technology trade show” that attracted 10,000+ legal professionals in its day, LegalTech NY already had the largest possible audience.

You can’t cast a wider net than “legal” and “tech”. But here’s the kicker – now 2 years later, can you tell me what their larger audience is and how they are attracting them?

With the word “week”?!

So we have confusion about the duration and total flub on the name change, IMO … let’s move along to:

Confusion No. 3 – Hashtag is what?

After changing the name, ALM also tried to force the shifting of the hashtag associated with the event from #LTNY to #LegalWeek.

Obviously, ALM does not understand that you can’t force anyone to anything on twitter and that “LegalWeek” is just too long for us old time tweeters more accustomed to the 140 character rule.

That ALM encourages the vendors to basically spam the event hashtag = strike 2 on the webby stuff! <g>

I, personally, believe the hashtag should match the new name of the show and started using “LWNY” last year. To see how well that went, see above re: you can’t force anyone to anything on twitter ;)~

Finally, we have …

Confusion No.4 – Why do I have to buy a ticket to an Expo Hall?

The last drastic change put in place by ALM to create an event of broader audience appeal was the bright idea to charge an entry fee for the Expo Hall.

Yep. Make people pay to be in front of people selling to them — that’ll make it more appealing!

At $15 to $35 I want to say ALM is not trying to make another, albeit teeny, profit stream off their paid vendors. So then what’s with the charge?

My guess would be ALM is purposely trying to limit the Expo Hall for paid attendees of the conference.

My problem with that is that each company that exhibits pays ALM a hefty fee to do so. In a market as large as New York City, limiting vendor exposure by charging an Expo Hall entry fee doesn’t make sense to those showing and makes the event less exciting to those attending.

Is it a quality over quantity debate? In some respects less is better. I am a bit of a germ-a-phobe and I do not like strangers touching me so there’s that. A few of the booth reps told me it makes the event less “hectic” for them. So less people = less hectic but also less connections and isn’t that what paying for company reps to be in front of people is all about?

I see so many ways to structure this event as a win win win for all – attendees, vendors and the legal geeks looking to see what is out there by visiting the Expo Hall — even for ALM and the Hilton …

Anyway, it is obvious ALM is going to have to do something because most of the peeps I spoke with were disappointed (again) and a few (more) have vowed not to be back.

As for my Expo Hall experience – with the exception of the Micro Focus game show (where I won a few Starbucks gift cards) and the awesome magician at the @doeLegal booth, I didn’t see much in the way of fun stuff, or entertainment, for those attending.

Here’s a compilation of images from the Expo Hall, a few of the hallways and a few from the Legal Meet n Geek™ I hosted as Director of the Virtual Bar Association:

and cuz while I was touring the Expo Floor with @fernsummer and @cschlein the comment about shrinkage inspired my contribution to AttnyAtWork, now that I’ve ruminated a bit, I think I can better sum up our #LTNY18 “experience” with this oldie but goodie:

til next time…

-A

___

If you are a member of the Virtual Bar Association, look for Part 2 of my #LTNY18 experience, including photos of the people, food and reports from the social events in the February issue of the VBA Newsletter.

What was that? You haven’t joined the Virtual Bar Association yet? Do you work AT a law firm? If so, go here and join! Even free members get valuable stuff! 😉